Does anyone have experience with either the Mild and Medium versions of this razor? If so, what are your impressions? They are tempting me something fierce
I have the Mild. At first I did not like it because it stuck to my face so never got the proper angle. Polished it some and now I really like it. Very efficient! I did let Henson know of the problem I was having and how I fixed it.
I entered traditional shaving shortly after the Henson was introduced to the market. I was an immediate fan, and I remain one today. I was fortunate to purchase both the mild and medium before the price increase. The magic of the Henson is the high level of comfort due to low blade feel while at the same time having great efficiency due to slightly positive blade exposure. Although I am a fan, those who borrowed my Henson mild did not become fans, so don't let my fanboy status overly influence your decision. Here is a write-up I did in Feb. 2021 on a side-by-side shave with the mild and medium: The Henson mild provides such a smooth shave with no blade feel at all. (I understand one can up the aggressiveness by loosening the handle, but a. I worry about the head turning and loosening further while shaving; and b. it is not necessarily recommended or suggested by Henson). I started to wonder if I could get better efficiency from the Henson medium. I recently had the good fortune to try a medium, and I just finished a side-by-side comparison. I made a conscious effort to not go over the skin more than once on each pass, trying to keep all things equal. I shaved face first, then head. Results of the passes for head and face are the same. First pass WTG: The medium removed more stubble, and I was comfortably able to feel the blade, so I knew when I was actually shaving rather than skimming the cap. After XTG and ATG the results really surprised me. I am stunned. The results on both sides are IDENTICAL. Both sides of my face and head are as smooth as a billiard cue ball. Alum produced a very light sting on my neck; nothing on cheeks of head. No cuts or weepers, no irritation on either side. If you are unsure of whether you should get mild or medium, let your blade feel preference be your guide. After 3 passes I cannot tell the difference between the mild and medium side.
I on the other hand didn’t like either but I only have experienced the alu versions, far too light for me.
And I like lighter razors more than the recent rush to heavyweight razors. It's all a personnel choice, the old YMMV thing
I had the medium. I sold it. I found that I had to have a perfect angle to get a good shave. No angle flexibility at all. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have tried the mild (+) v2 and medium (++) v1. I have to use pressure to get either one to cut anything at all, which (IMO) encourages a bad DE shaving habit. The razor is very lightweight and has a "cartridgey" feel that I don't personally like. For me they are very inefficient razors and require more than 3 passes to get to a socially acceptable shave. My assessment is that the Henson is mild by design and is designed to shave like a cartridge razor (lightweight, needs pressure to cut). If I understand the marketing strategy, the target market is cartridge razor users. If you like cartridge razors, you might like the Henson. If you don't like using cartridge razors, or if you prefer heavier razors, prefer more blade feel, more efficiency, etc. my guess is you will probably find the Henson not to your liking.
have since tried the medium and aggressive in Ti and still no love, sold to a friend and he loves the razor
I’ve used all three (mild,medium, and aggressive) extensively and I find the medium to be the sweet spot. Pop in a feather blade and the results are awesome!
The (now sadly discontinued) Winning razor has a head design somewhat similar to the Henson but it's stainless steel and much more efficient (for me, anyway). It was manufactured by Jake Yates at Yates Precision for the Wet Shaving Club. Jake Yates said in an email that he plans to release an upgrade for the Winning at some point. If it were me I'd wait for that rather than get a Henson.
